Get amped!

There are some pretty clear pros and cons to driving an electric vehicle. In a landscaping operation, any potential net benefit largely comes down to what you’re asking that vehicle to do and how you’re capable of supporting it.

“It’s more of an infrastructure issue than anything else,” says Chad Reinhart, president and co-owner of Reinhart Landscaping & Snow with branches in Bloomington, Peoria and Champaign, Ill. “It’s not like you can just pull over to get a little gas. Most of the charging stations we see in our area are Level 2 or even Level 1. Ideally, you want a Level 3 charger that will get you fully charged in about 45 minutes. We’ve found just one in the Bloomington-Normal area, none in Peoria and one in Champaign. Plus, it might already be in use when you pull in. That’s why range anxiety is a real thing with a lot of people.”

To ease some of his own range anxiety, Reinhart has begun driving an electric vehicle himself. He is gaining an understanding of how his pickup truck drives, holds a charge and recharges. “These things are no longer a fear factor for me,” Reinhart says. “We’re learning how to plan around some of the challenges to make this work.”

Developing processes for efficient charging

As part of his personal beta test, Reinhart has installed a Level 2 charger in his home garage. It is working well and recharges his truck overnight. The challenge, according to Reinhart, is finding a way to efficiently and cost-effectively scale across his sprawling company.

“Do you set up other managers with chargers at their homes? A charger is $800 to $1,000, and the installation can cost that much or more,” Reinhart points out. “And what do you do if that employee ends up leaving your company? Should you just install chargers at your facility and require managers to bring their trucks back there every night?”

Chris Matthews, president of Builderscape in Marysville, Ohio, has adopted both charging strategies. He has recently purchased three Ford F-150 Lightning pickup trucks with two more on order. Matthews and his project managers are using the trucks. Each truck user has been set up with a home charger and is reimbursed either quarterly or semiannually for the electricity used to charge their vehicle. Additionally, charging stations have been installed at Builderscape’s facility.

“We recently moved into a new facility and actually designed it around the idea of charging electric vehicles,” Matthews says. “There are some huge upfit costs you have to think about when looking to charge an entire fleet. It’s one thing to charge a single vehicle at home on a 30-amp circuit; it’s another thing to charge five or six vehicles simultaneously on a 60-amp breaker.”

Matthews and his team worked with an electrician to make sure the new facility could handle the electrical demands. “We needed to be capable of charging the vehicles we already had, plus have room for much more expansion,” Matthews says.

As a general rule, Matthews says each vehicle should have its own charger. “DC fast-chargers cost a fortune,” Matthews says. “Furthermore, if you DC-charge all the time, it’s very hard on a battery. So, we went with a typical AC charger. The amperage is the big thing. We’re running 40-amp chargers on 60-amp breakers. That will take a completely dead battery to completely full in about eight hours.”

One objective of Reinhart’s personal beta test is determining if one charger per vehicle is actually necessary. That requires an analysis of battery range and miles driven per day. For instance, if a vehicle’s range is 310 miles, but that vehicle only puts on 110 miles a day, it could be possible to charge it every other night. On the other hand, if the vehicle typically racks up 140-plus miles a day, it would be pretty risky to try squeezing out a second day before recharging.

Reinhart has also found that recharging a battery to 75-85% is the most efficient approach. Doing so gives him the daily range he needs while helping save time and battery wear. “Charging that last 15-25% is harder on batteries,” Reinhart says. “Plus, I’ve found that I can go from 0-85% in 30-45 minutes. That last 15% might take an hour. These are the things I’m learning as we look to scale across our company at some point.”

One other thing to think about is the impact towing will have on battery range.

Understanding the towing tradeoff

Builderscape specializes in landscape construction and pool installation. Matthews doesn’t see his production vehicles going electric anytime soon due to the heavy loads they need to haul.

“If you try towing something like that, you’re probably going to lose half your range,” Matthews says. “If you’re just working around town, 150 miles might be enough per day. But if you’re traveling long distances, losing half of your range could become a problem.”

Matthews still sees opportunity to expand his use of electric trucks. One of the company’s larger diesel trucks would still deliver equipment and materials to a jobsite. But the crew workers themselves could throw their smaller tools in the bed of an electric pickup. “I see an electric truck being a far more efficient people-mover for us going forward,” Matthews says.

The lighter load of a lawn maintenance crew really opens up the possibility of going electric, especially if routes are tight.

Austin Hall, president and owner of Greenwise Organic Lawn Care in Skokie, Ill., received his first three electric vehicles earlier this year after placing his order a year prior.

The van hauls a tank sprayer, push spreader and some fertilizer. The trucks tow maintenance trailers with a walk-behind mower, stand-on mower and assortment of standard handheld equipment.

Greenwise serves the Chicagoland market and specializes in residential properties. Routes range from 10 to 50 miles long, which is well within the daily range of the E-Transit and Lightning.

In fact, Hall says maintenance crews often take advantage of the built-in electricity to charge batteries for their lawn equipment.

“A big consideration when switching to battery equipment is how to go about keeping the batteries charged,” Hall says. “Having a battery-electric truck helps. This is allowing us to reduce the number of backup batteries we need. These smaller equipment batteries draw so little power that we haven’t seen it move the needle when it comes to truck range.”

The two trucks and the van return to the Greenwise yard at the end of the day to recharge overnight. Hall says his fleet management platform connected him with a reputable EV installer to put three charging stations in.

Thus far, Hall says everything has been working well. “Our electric vehicles are quite fast and powerful,” Hall says. “It’s kind of funny, the pick-up can actually catch you off guard.”

Getting caught off-guard is something Hall, Matthews and Reinhart have all sought to avoid by becoming early adopters of electric vehicles.

Starting slowly is giving them the chance to learn and adapt. It’s also giving technology a chance to further improve.

“We didn’t want to turn over our entire fleet right away,” Hall says. “There are already a lot of options available. We want to watch how things continue to evolve over the next 18-24 months before taking our next steps. With something as new and different as this, you are bound to make some mistakes along the way. We just want to minimize the impact of those mistakes.”

The author is a freelance writer based in Wisconsin